Curtis Stevens Detonates Left Hooks on Saul Roman’s Face for the KO Win

Before his fight Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut against veteran tough guy Saul Roman, 37-10, (31), Curtis “Showtime” Stevens opined “I know he is going to get knocked down. The question, will he get back up? And if he gets back up, he will not survive. It’s just a matter of time.”

[Roman] gets put down. Gets back up. Gets put down again, he gets back. He gets back up and fights. That’s all I can see,” Stevens said.

The question Stevens hoped to have the right answer to was “What happens when Roman gets up after getting dropped by the former “Chin Checker” out of Brownsville, NY?” Two minutes and twenty-six seconds into the first round, Stevens and anyone viewing MSNBC and Main Events’ Fight Night card had their answer as Roman was pile-driven to the canvas flat on his back by a Stevens left hook.

Leading up to that hadn’t been much more fun for Roman. Stevens, a likely candidate to face WBA middleweight titleholder and HBO star-in-the-making Gennady Golovkin, came out fast. At 5’7”, Stevens is a compact middleweight with an athletic build, power in both hands and an aggressive style. Roman is three inches taller with a 77” reach and he tried to use it early. But Stevens pressed in and landed a series of compact left hooks followed by short rights that had Roman on his heels early.

A left hook put Roman down early on but he seemed to steel himself as Stevens went for broke with an all-out up-tempo assault. With someone as resilient as Roman, this could have had disastrous consequences for Stevens. It didn’t go that way as he pressed forward and landed a home run of a counter left hook that dropped Roman to the canvas like he’d been shot. His arms fell to his waist lifelessly for a moment and the ref immediately called a halt to the action.

The win is a strong statement for Stevens’ power. How it advertises his ability to handle the intelligence and heat “GGG” Golovkin brings remains to be seen. But see it, we should.

In the second of three televised bouts, 36 year old Tomasz Adamek 49-2, (29) resumed his heavyweight campaign with a decisive victory over heavyweight also-ran Dominic Guinn, 34-10-1, (23) by scores of 98-92 and 99-91 twice.

Guinn started well, using a long jab and right cross for about the first two rounds. Then it was all Adamek who, as his trainer Roger Bloodworth described, fought less European than he had previously. There was some funk to Adamek’s hustle as he shuffled in and out of range, bending at the waist and mixing both levels and punch velocity in circles around Guinn.

I’m not sure if Adamek is back in the mix at heavyweight so much as back in the good graces and view of the paying public after an eight month layoff.

Mchunu, out of South Africa, is a difficult fighter. He’s explosive and certainly quick with a defensive, counter puncher mentality. But he lacks for aggression and there isn’t a technical aspect to his game that allows him to force the action.

Eddie Chambers is a technical boxer not known for explosive boxer or for being an offensive juggernaut.

In other words, this was a damned boring fight that Mchunu clearly won. Scores were 97-93 and 99-91 twice.

How Mchunu fares on TV in the future will depend on how aggressively he is matched in the future. Chambers may want to rethink resuming his heavyweight run after looking less than energetic at cruiserweight.